


Virus

by Lasertits



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Also literature used for other purposes, Class Differences, Cybertronian Language, Drabble, Gen, How Do I Tag, Meta, Revolution, War, Weaponized Literature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23670289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lasertits/pseuds/Lasertits
Summary: A brief essay on Cybertronian poetry.
Relationships: Megatron & Optimus Prime, Megatron/Optimus Prime
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Virus

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure what this is but I found it in my scraps file.

Cybertronian poetry exists in the mind of the reader. It can’t be printed or translated, it can barely even be explained to non-Cybertronians. 

The words themselves are not the poem. For example, Voltshift, a Decepticon poet, writes about how the fields of newly Cyberformed IG-377 are glittering with crystals, soon to be a forest. But the glyphs are accompained by a string of code, which conveys a sense of below/death/mourning/many, and in fact this is the poem; the pang of unexplained grief which the reader experiences when reading the innocent surface words. 

For it’s not the beauty of crystals or metal which concerns Voltshift, nor the Decepticon victory that they imply, but the tangle of rusted corpses below them. The poem asks, quietly, if it’s a fair exchange, all those billions of years worth of memories, all those sparks, for a dawn above a sea of diamonds. 

Needless to say, this poem was widely interpreted as being seditionary, and no further material from Voltshift has been recovered. Scolars believe he fell victim to the Decepticon Justice Division. 

Another example, of weaponized hidden meanings, is the poetry of Megatron himself. 

The surface words are powerful but simple. There is an austerity to them which echoes the life of the arena. His pre war poems never speak of emotions, or beauty, but they are in themselves beautiful. 

However, the sub level is actually twofold. It depends on the reader’s processor type, frame alloys and software which level you can access. 

-If your armor is made up of the durable yet lightweight metals popular among the rich, you experience sublevel A. If you have the latest software running, if your processor is enhanced with expensive cooling rings, if the energon in your lines is filtered pure, the poem you have just downloaded will know. 

Sublevel A is a sense of futility/weakness/ennui/fatalism/sleep. The reader experiences moderate depression, loss of energy and a desire to withdraw from company. 

-Sublevel B is accessible to anyone without proper firewalls, with offbrand hardware or with intelligence dampeners welded to their motherboard. The poem analyzes the resonance patterns in the reader’s body, and it identifies the brittle, heavy alloys of low caste mechs. It responds to Syk damage, to low energon levels, to untreated rust infection, to exhaustion and desperation and fear. 

In sublevel B, the reader experiences increased aggression, increased energy, a sense of invulnerability and a violent surge of hope. 

-Megatron’s output during the long war is prolific, but no Autobot can read it and live. 

-Sublevel C, which occurs only in an unnamed volume found among Megatron’s possessions, is inaccessible to most readers as it requires him or her to be a Prime. 

Optimus has confirmed the existence of Sublevel C, but refuses to this day to reveal its effects. Rodimus will only say that reading ”To the rhythm of power” or ”Bell” while carrying the Matrix is ”awesome”, but that he is clearly not the intended recipient. 

The notable difference between Megatron’s early and late work is that Soundwave did not help code it.


End file.
